Adeel Alam is an American professional wrestler signed with WWE. He is best known for his work with WWE as Mustafa Ali.
Adeel Alam was born in Bolingbrook, Illinois, United States on the 28th of March in 1986. His father is a Pakistani and hails from the city of Karachi while his mother is an Indian and belongs to New Delhi, India. Alam was raised in Chicago, Illinois. Alam has two older brothers. He was an ardent pro-wrestling fan since his childhood and idolized the likes of Bret Hart, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, and others.
In 2003, Alam made his wrestling debut. Alam wrestled for several independent promotions, such as NWA, JAPW, PGP, Wrestling Circus, and AAW while working as a police officer in Chicago.
In 2016, WWE signed Alam as he entered the CWC. He was eliminated in the first round but made several appearances for NXT. In September, they assigned Ali to 205 Live, which was a show for the cruiserweights. Ali gained prominence during his time in the cruiserweight division and faced Buddy Murphy, Cedric Alexander, Hideo Itami, Neville, and Tony Nese.
In 2018, he entered the Cruiserweight tournament for the vacant Cruiserweight Championship. At WrestleMania 34, Cedric Alexander defeated him in the finals. He spent the year feuding with Buddy Murphy before moving to SmackDown.
In December, he was moved to SmackDown, where he defeated Andrade and Daniel Bryan. Ali was set to receive a major push and a match for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania. However, Ali was injured and sidelined for two months. Due to his injury, they gave the push to Kofi Kingston. After his return, he faced Daniel Bryan and Kevin Owens for the WWE Championship and lost.
In July, he entered the Money in the Bank ladder match and lost to Brock Lesnar. Ali began feuding with Shinsuke Nakamura for the Intercontinental Championship and lost. He joined Team Hogan to defeat Team Flair at Saudi. In November, he was part of Team SmackDown, which defeated Team RAW and NXT.
In 2020, Ali portrayed the role of the mysterious SmackDown hacker. The Hurt Business was feuding with Ali when he returned to the show in July. In October, Ali revealed himself as the leader of Retribution. After five months, the team disbanded and Ali went back as a solo competitor.
After Mania, he began feuding with Ricochet and won. In July, he began teaming up with Mansoor and formed a tag team. After the draft, Ali turned on Mansoor and attacked him. At Super Show-Down, Mansoor defeated Ali. In 2022, Ali requested his release from the company but was denied.
Following his return to the company, Ali would go on to feud against the likes of The Miz, Ciampa, and Theory before turning heel in October where he unleashed on Seth Rollins. He unsuccessfully challenged for the WWE United States Championship on a few occasions. In 2023, he picked up a fight with Dolph Ziggler and beat him in an episode of RAW in February.
After WWE Backlash, Ali became the no. 1 contender for the Intercontinental Championship and is currently booked to face the champion Gunther at Night of Champions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
As per various sources, WWE Superstar Mustafa Ali is worth around USD 1 Million as of 2023. Click here to know more about the net worth of the former Retribution leader.
Mustafa Ali has origins in both India and Pakistan as his mother belonged to India while his father belonged to Pakistan. However, he represented only Pakistan at NXT Cruiserweight Tournament as already two wrestlers were representing India in that tournament. He is a Muslim by religion and married his wife, Uzma, in January 2011 whom he had met in 2010. The couple have three children together - two daughters and a son.
Mustafa Ali's real name is Adeel Alam.
Mustafa Ali is booked at 5 ft 10 inches in WWE.
WWE Superstar Mustafa Ali is worth around USD 1 Million in 2023.
